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Cryptocurrencies and their purposes within the blockchain seem to have infiltrated the majority of everyday life. We are in the infancy stages of the blockchains implementation but there are already beginning to develop clear niche markets within the blockchain realm. The Supply Chain niche is already saturated with great options such as WTC, VEN, AMB, TRAC, ARY, WABI and MOD. However, determining which of these coins will appreciate most this year while acquiring an ample market share are difficult questions to answer without significant analysis.

The Blockchain

Blockchain technology allows individuals to securely and transparently track all transactions that take place on it. Bitcoin was the first, but there have been many developments since that will aid in many categories of business. Originally, blockchain technology was created for the financial sector to deal with decentralizing financial transactions.

However, as the technology developed and became more understood its vast application became very clear. The transparency, ease of tracking, and strength against manipulating data within the blockchain were many of the reasons companies started to implement it. The blockchain has many benefits that would apply to supply chain management which is why there have been an overwhelming number of supply chain related cryptocurrencies released in the last few years. These cryptocurrencies include:

WTC, VEN, AMB, TRAC, ARY, WABI, and MOD

The blockchain allows the supplier (and public) to securely and transparently track all types of transactions. This would mean every time a product changed hands from a supplier to an individual, or from an individual to another individual, a transaction would be documented. By creating this transaction within the blockchain a permanent history of each product, from manufacture to sale is completed.

If there was an issue with a product it could be immediately tracked back through the supply chain, on the blockchain, to see if the error was created by a manufacturer, supplier, individual or was a fluke accident. The biggest benefits of blockchain for the supply chain are recording, tracking, assigning, linking, and sharing. Recording is important to track the transfer of assets such as containers between supply chain nodes. Tracking is essential when it comes to purchase orders, receipts, ensuring all trade-related documents are secure. Assigning is essentially verifying certifications of physical products, for example: making sure oranges labeled pesticide free are indeed labeled correctly. Linking places physical goods to actual serial numbers of RFID tracking tags while sharing provides this information (assembly, delivery, maintenance) securely on the blockchain for viewing.

WTC: Waltonchain

Waltonchain (WTC) is currently valued at $23.69 per coin and has a market cap of $589 million. WTC is based off the concept of the value of the Internet of Things. This new business ecosystem will be, “based on organic integration of the blockchain and Internet of Things. According to waltconchain.org, the goal is to create a “genuine, believable, traceable business model with totally shared data and transparent information, depending on the combination of RFID and Walton chain technology implemented.” WTC has created a 4-phase development plan to implement blockchain in supply chain management.

Phase 1.0, of this four-part project, is developing RFID chips with blockchain usage and testing this chip in pilot projects that have already been approved. It is always a positive sign when a coin has partnerships already in place. Phase 1.0 is being implemented with Tries, SMEN, and Kaltendin. The chip will initially be integrated into fashion lines, but their eventual goal is to integrate the customer’s intellectual property protection function to solve problems associated with logistics, shops, and the aftermarket. The developers speak very generically regarding Phase 1.0 in the whitepaper, but the positive is there are already partnerships with Asian clothing manufacturers in place.

Phase 2.0 is when the RFID chip is ready to go into mass production and use in the retail and logistics sector. The payment, transfer and reward system via the Waltonchain should already be implanted by this phase. The two main sectors WTC is focused on is retail and logistics. The focus in retail is on the ability to use the system in the course of payment processing, product evaluation, and verification of authenticity. Regarding logistics, information is to be collected for the good’s entire route. From WTC intends to create a counterfeit-proof way to ensure reliable and accessible information is provided to consumers of any product.

Phase 3.0 is when the production industry is to be involved and individualized ordering processes to be made possible. Most of Phase 3 are repeated at points form Phase 1 and 2. Phase 4.0 is where the development of additional RFID chips for collecting information begins. These chips include biometric chips, chips with variable operating frequencies and “different sensor chips.” The goal of phase 4 is to create secure and reliable means of digitization and networking of people’s lives on the blockchain.

WTC is one of the largest market cap coins in the supply chain sector and is doing many things very well. For a Chinese team, they are maintaining great public relations with investors from English speaking countries. WTC is being actively traded, and their dev team is continuing to work on their blockchain and systems. From a technological perspective, WTC is less revolutionary than one might expect as RFID technology already exists and must improve significantly before the blockchain has any significant benefits over current RFID tracking methods. The future is bright for WTC with the only concerns being legislation negatively impacting business functions for coins out of China and their $500 million plus market cap. Even with some negatives the positives still far outweigh the negatives. If you are a believer in WTC, there is no reason it should not approach it’s January high of over $45.

VEN: VeChain

VeChain (VEN) has a market cap four hundred percent higher than WTC. VEN is priced at approximately $4.52 per coin with a market cap of $2.1 billion. VEN is much older than WTC launching in 2015. The company behind VEN is a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) firm focused on the Internet of Things (IoT). VEN specializes in authenticating a company’s supply chain. The concept is by using blockchain technology goods can be guaranteed authentic. The systems ensure product quality, but in a decentralized, global network which is able to cut costs across multiple industries. The manner in which this is achieved is by using smart chips to monitor products as they are tracked through their lifestyles. This technology has many applications from agricultural to retail products.

VEN also specializes in a second type of token, Thor Power. VEN is the main token in their network, but besides VEN there is also a coin called Thor Power. Think of the relationship between VEN and VeChain THOR similar to NEO and GAS. To power smart contracts and run applications on the NEO network GAS is used. To power smart contracts and run applications on the VEN network, VeChain THOR is used.

VEN is not in the infancy stages as most cryptocurrency and supply chain cryptos are. VEN is a functioning product being used by massive corporations already. On January 18, VeChain partnered with Fanghuwang which is an online lending platform in China with $3.3 billion in managed assets. VEN entered into the financial services industry in January of 2018 having entered the supply chain sector, profitably, years ago. Renault is just one of many examples of VEN’s entrance into the supply chain sector in the past years. VEN is the safest and most developed of the supply chain coins.

Rumors and famous billionaire investors always attract significant attention in the crypto space. Jim Breyer, the billionaire CEO of Breyer Capital, announced that VEN is a holding of his portfolio. This obviously drove the price of VEN higher in mid-January but the correction as impacted all coins, VEN included. There was a famous photo floating around Twitter which shows Mr. Breyer next to China’s president with Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Ma off to the sides. Crypto is getting the attention from billionaire investors across the world, and as more people state their portfolio holdings, those specific coins will see significant rises in value.

IOTA: IOTA Token

IOTA specializes in being a cryptocurrency with no transaction fees and no miners. How can this cryptocurrency exist with staples of basically every other crypto missing? The answer is in the computational power required to submit a transaction. Given there is a degree of computational power required for each transaction, this makes IOTA the perfect currency for machines to use through a communication protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT). The main difference between VEN and IOTA is IOTA is focused on machine to machine transactions. Although not prolific currently this will be a major step in the future when you can remove the individual placing orders and let machines place orders when materials are getting low, and transferring cryptocurrency to cover costs automatically.

IOTA intends to solve major problems it saw with blockchain technology. The biggest problems originally were that other blockchains like BTC were slower, more expensive, and very restricting regarding the ability to transfer funds expeditiously. As more blocks were added, the blockchain gets longer. The amount of computers able to mine it shrinks over time as the blocks become too in depth. Bitcoin and Ethereum are both over 150GB long, and if this number increases a thousand percent, very few computers would be able to mine it. This is where IOTA looks to solve many issues with the blockchain.

IOTA specializes in a technology called “The Tangle.” It is a method of storing transactions using a mechanism called a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). When an IOTA user submits a transaction, every transaction contributes to both verifying and securing the specific transaction submitted, and other transactions on the network. Transactions are verified multiple times by different users, and as the approvals grow, the degree of confidence in the transaction increases as well. IOTA’s implantation of the Tangle has had its hiccups as in theory; everything works better than in practice.

IOTA currently is trading at $1.94 per coin with a market cap of approximately $5.39 billion. This is down from a high in December of over $5 per coin. IOTA will specialize in the automation of machine’s purchasing products on the supply chain and the proper tracking and verification of them. In the supply chain sector, machine’s automated purchasing will become more commonplace, and as machines cannot have bank accounts, cryptocurrencies designed for them will be an entirely new niche market. The Winklevoss twins highlight this specific reason as their assumption BTC will surpass $100,000 with ease.

AMB: Ambrosus

Ambrosus (AMB) is a supply chain token where they use sensors and RFID chip technology through the blockchain process. The main difference is AMB tracks the content of the supplier’s claim guaranteeing it authentic. An example of this would be ensuring an “Organic Non-GMO” label is indeed guaranteed from farm to table. AMB is not specializing in retail or machine to machine transactions but instead has focused on food and pharmaceuticals. This allows them to be an authenticator of claims such as certified organic or percentages for low-fat milk.

This is one of the few coins the U.N. has publicly spoken regarding their backing. The Swiss government funded 30 million Swiss Francs to the startup. Angel investors previously worked for the U.N. in their sustainability department. Their significant list of notorious investors is impressive but so are their already established partnerships. AMB has supply chain partnerships with INS a coin recently to have reached their ICO hard cap and continues to develop strategic partnerships in the grocer and pharma fields. With such early traction among big-name angel investors, governments like Switzerland, and bodies like the U.N. it is clear AMB has cemented their position as one of the supply chain coins for the long term.

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AMB has a market cap of $85 million with a value of $0.59 per coin. AMB has pierced the $1.60 per coin mark multiple times in the last few months. This provides over a one hundred and fifty percent return for investors who purchase on February 9, 2019. Look for AMB to have a major 2018 as they are one of the few coins with a country’s financial support, and the only to have received the public support of the U.N. The pharmaceutical and grocer business need to ensure their safety standards and met and the blockchain has the best capabilities of accomplishing this.

TRAC: OriginTrail

TRAC at $0.22 per coin and a market cap of $57 million is tiny in comparison to behemoths with market caps in the multiple billions. However, those coins at one point had a market cap of $57 million. TRAC peaked at just under $0.50 at the end of January and has since corrected over 50 percent. A very positive sign was TRAC hitting their 17,900 ETH hard cap. There has been significant interest demonstrated in TRAC even though it is “the new kid on the block.”

TRAC enables the seamless sharing of data along any supply chain. This decentralized, blockchain supported network ensures transparency, trust, and security. It does all this while having methods of verifications while seamlessly providing companies relevant data. This will help companies protect their brand image, increase efficiency, save on many costs, and greatly benefit the entire supply chain.

The beginning of 2018 saw the completion of the Yimishiji Pilot project regarding their online farmer’s market, which was submitted into the Walmart Innovation Pipeline for food safety. This February TRAC intends to open their Hong Kong office specifically for fostering partnerships in the Asian markets. Quarter two seems very demanding as OriginTrail Test Network launches and the first ten projects will be voted upon by token holders. TRAC, unlike IOTA or VEN, is just solidifying its purpose and relevance in the crypto world. It seems there is enough interest to keep TRAC relevant but if it is able to take significant market share from the major players is yet to be seen.

ARY: Block Array

Well for those who like the small-cap coins and enjoy a good gamble this is the one to buy. However, their return if successful will likely be the greatest among the coins on this list. Block Array (ARY) is valued at $0.18 per coin and has a market cap of $12 million. This is less than half a percent of the market cap of the three largest market cap coins on this list. With such a small market cap a small amount of publicity or momentum can increase the value two or three hundred percent. Block Array’s ICO completed in early January which unfortunately put their coin release in the middle of the correction. Currently, their token can be purchased on KuCoin and is the closest thing to a “moonshot” as this list will get. The positives about ARY are vast as their ICO reached its hard cap with ease. The only real negative is there are many other tokens in the supply chain management space and their token sale completed in the middle of BTC’s biggest correction in years.

ARY specializes in deployable BTC and ETH blockchain technology solutions which can be used on mobile and SaaS platforms. The benefits are there is no additional hosting, no overages, no mess of traditional tracking and analysis. The benefits ARY deploys are not solely tracking of the supply chain. They provide, fast, secure, scalable, proven, ELD Records in a secure and accessible format. Everything from detention payouts to supply chain logs can be integrated into their technology stack. ARY intentionally determined multiple flaws in the current supply chain management system and looks to solve them all. These include Electronic Logging Device situations where a truck arrives, but the site cannot unload their load. The trucking world is based on timing and if their truck is unable to be reloaded and sent to the next location they driver is entitled to detention payouts. Both trucking companies and owner-operators agree on this being a major issue, and ARY can easily solve it.

ARY specializes in automated ELD Records along with Proof of Logging and Proof of Arrival and Departure. Proof of Logging is when a company anchors their certified logs into the blockchain instead of their personal servers. When a 24-hour period of a day’s logs are confirmed the system takes the information, along with eta data, and anchors it to the Bitcoin or Ethereum blockchain. Providing blockchain solutions on both BTC and ETH is one of the major differences of ARY. Logistics firms also have the benefits of geofencing based automatic triggers through the Proof of Arrival and Departure system. The mobile application allows an immutable record to be stored on either the BTC or ETH network regarding, time, location, driver information, order number, and more. This ensures there is a record on the blockchain of the driver, the transfer of possession of the good, and the shipment. Through ELD Devices and certifying daily logs, ARY can carve out a niche crypto market. Unlikely, to have a market cap of over $1billion this year, ARY could easily approach $100million which is an eight hundred percent return.

ARY is unique in its market cap is minuscule, and it can work in tandem with many of the other supply chain coin’s functionalities. Even if one or two of the other coins become obsolete the problems ARY attempts to solve are very specific and that may care out the perfect niche for a small cap coin.

WaBi: WaBi

Similar to ARY, WaBi is one of the babies in the crypto world. Their ICO was closed in December with their coins recently being added to exchanges. WaBi successfully reached their hard cap and is from the parent company Walimai. The newcomer status should not be pegged to WaBi because Walimai has been successfully operating in the space of consumer product authentication since it launched in February, 2018.WaBi is based out of Singapore, due to Chinese regulations, while the parent company is based out of China. China has long been wary of consumer products after there have been many scandals involving tainted and mislabeled consumer goods.

China has experienced multiple scandals in areas such as baby foods, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics with some cases resulting in the unfortunate death of the consumer. The problem is fakes are generally indistinguishable from originals and are sometimes sold in shops for little to no discount. This makes it almost impossible without accurate tracking to ensure the production standards of the product, and it’s authenticity. QR codes can be easily copied, and customers cannot tell the difference between a real and fake hologram. Walimai’s solution; WaBi.

The label is applied at the production location, and it features RFID technology that is used to update information regarding the product throughout the distribution process continually. By storing the information on the blockchain, it is securely stored for viewing at a later date if desired. Customers can download the Walimai app to scan a labeled product to ensure it is authentic. The manner in which the Walimai hologram is applied makes it so if the lid is removed or the product is tampered with, it fails to recognize it. Walimai already has deals with baby food retailers in China highlighting the Walimai labeled items in their stores.

The WaBi was sold at pre-ICO for $0.03 and the ICO for $0.25. This is a dramatically less than WaBi’s current price of $1.64 and a market cap of $75 million. Even with the ICO priced so low, all purchasers have lock-in periods where they are not allowed to sell for periods of three to six months. This prevents any major sell-off in the market and ensures early investors aren’t solely looking to take advantage of an ICO hitting their hard cap but instead are truly interested in the ICO’s long-term success. This may create a problem multiple months in the future when large ICO holders unload their $.25 shares at two hundred percent returns. If the holders are too closely staggered together, this will collapse the price of WaBi.

The WaBi’s purpose is unique. It is provided to users who scan the product as a bonus of taking the time to ensure it’s authenticity. If people get lazy and start trusting the WaBi certification without actually taking the time to scan it the purpose of guaranteeing transparency on the supply chain is wasted. The WaBi provides the consumer an incentive to partake in the supply chain by confirming it authentic prior to consumption. The reward system for the WaBi continues to be finalized but what is clear is Walimai has been profitably functioning for years in China and just raised significant funds from their ICO. This puts WaBi in a strong position for success if they can incentives the members of the public to scan their products prior to consumption. In some countries, this seems crazy, but in China where people worry their child may be poisoned from tainted baby milk, it is likely they achieve this goal with ease. WaBi should be a strong play for 2018 as more companies in Asia continue to adopt their technology.

MOD: Modum

Modum (MOD) is valued at $3.20 per coin with a market cap of $58 million. This places it above the smallest market cap coins on this list but well below the behemoths with billion-dollar market caps and major market penetration. MOD is a supply chain system that integrates blockchain technology, smart contracts, sensory devices, into a single solution. MOD’s solution aims to integrate enhanced data across the entire supply chain. Specific industries have a higher likelihood of adoption of pharmaceutical industries, and food products are the most likely to incorporate blockchain in the short term. This is because tampering with these products is the most life-threatening and there are varying standards for authentication worldwide.

MOD will initially focus on penetrating the pharmaceutical industry. They are piggybacking off recent regulatory changes in the European Union that require proof that shipped medicinal products have not been exposed to conditions that may have compromised their quality. This requires medicinal companies to employ expensive temperature controlled trucks via third-party logistics providers when medicine is transported. MOD’s solution is sustainable and drastically reduces costs. Temperature sensors are integrated into the medicinal shipments where they record and transmit information to the ETH blockchain. This ensures full transparency and accountability of the data. If there are any issues regarding the environment or temperature of the shipment the sender and receiver will be notified of the problem immediately.

MOD is not the first mover in the supply chain blockchain niche. However, they do provide a unique product in their ability to monitor and transmit temperatures cost effectively and guaranteeing transparency. This has a wide range of applications in the long run as many products require temperature-controlled monitoring. MOD derives its value from the ability to participate in voting and dividend distribution by possessing the MOD. With a very strong team and a clear-cut business strategy, the MOD token provided the initial funding while guaranteeing future dividends. If you believe in the long-term viability of their business model, this is a great coin.

Conclusion

The supply chain management sector is becoming clustered with cryptocurrencies looking to solve problems that have been plaguing corporations for quite some time. With multiple currencies having market caps of more than $1 billion with deals and partnerships solidified with some of the top manufacturers in the world the best advice the King can provide is to pick a coin you believe in. If you are looking for the highest returns on your investment regardless of long-term viability the pick would be; ARY or AMB.

ARY’s price is suffering from the correction more so than most of the coins listed, and with a $12 million market cap, it can provide ten times returns if it reaches a market cap of $120 million, which still pales in comparison to most on this list. AMB has the financial support of the Swiss government and has investors linked to the U.N. Both of these provide AMB a leg up on the rest in the short and long term. From a valuation perspective, AMB is the author’s favorite of the smaller cap coins for the long term. Regarding the fastest appreciating in value during this rebound, the author expects ARY to be a top competitor for this title.

Regarding the large caps, the King would be hard pressed to pick which one is, “Best.” Each one serves a vastly different purpose in the same growing niche market. If you believe in the Internet of Things and machine to machine transactions than IOTA is your clea- cut winner. If you are interested in the market leader, currently VEN is a great option with WTC not being an awful number 2. The niche sector of supply chain blockchain technology will continue to expand until the majority of companies adopt it. The King expects all of these coins to rebound nicely in the coming months with coins like ARY and AMB bouncing the highest.

To read the King’s prior articles, to find out which ICOs he currently recommends, or to get in contact directly with the King, you can on Twitter (@JbtheCryptoKing) or Reddit (ICO updates and Daily Reports).

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